Free Republic

South Carolina's Supreme Court ordered Gov. Mark Sanford on Thursday to take $700 million in federal stimulus money aimed primarily at struggling schools. The decision brings a likely end to months of wrangling between the nation's most vocal anti-bailout governor and legislators who accused him of playing politics with people's lives. The Republican governor had refused to take the money designated for the state over the next two years, facing down irate protesters and legislators who passed a budget requiring him to do so. While other Republican governors had taken issue with requesting money from the $787 billion federal stimulus...

What Does Sovereignty Mean to You?In 1991 when globalism became a buzzword . . . Mel Hurtig who was the founder of the Council of Canadians, acknowledged the uniqueness of independent countries in contrast to a globalized world when he said: The advantage of the nation-state is that it allows the people the freedom to determine their own future to the best of their ability. People of common values and inclinations [who] build traditions and develop a legal framework for the society they have evolved…for the preservation of their heritage, their culture, their moral standards, their ethics, and their...

Had it not been for the terrorist attacks in the United States, the headlines on September 12, 2001 might have read: "Inter-American Democratic Charter Signed -- New Day for Democracy in the Hemisphere." The people of the Western Hemisphere would have focused on what happened the day before in Lima, Peru instead of New York City, Washington, DC, and rural Pennsylvania. Of course, the headlines were very different. For while foreign ministers from the member countries of the Organization of American States were gathered in Lima, Peru to sign the Inter-American Democratic Charter, 19 terrorists were carrying out their murderous...